Stay in Your Own State
If you live in Texas you have every right to talk about Cruz going to Cancun. If you live in another state, please shut up.
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Ted Cruz Goes to Cancun
If you haven’t heard already, there is unprecedented winter weather hitting Texas right now. Millions have lost power and many have lost their lives for reasons that people have been endlessly debating for the last week. What is happening in Texas, from all accounts, seems to be a heartbreaking situation for many and my thoughts go out to those.
In spite of this, in the midst of this disaster, Texas Senator Ted Cruz left Texas and flew to a resort in Cancun with his wife and children (he has since returned to Texas). Cruz is not the first politician to take an untimely and irresponsible vacation during a time of crisis nor will he be the last, but whenever it happens it always makes people irate. It seems to justify all our deep-rooted suspicion that politicians are merely out for themselves and don’t really care about the people they claim to represent.
As national media covered the story, people quickly came to Cruz’s defense saying that because he was not a part of the state government there was nothing he could do to address the situation. If he couldn’t do anything to help, then what is wrong with him getting out of the state with his family? Yeah, it may be bad optics but it doesn’t really matter so who cares?
Discussion about the actions of a politician, particularly during a moment of crisis, is always a worthy conversation to have when the politician is supposed to represent you. The issue with the entire conversation regarding Cruz’s vacation is that people who do not live in Texas are giving their opinion. If you live in Texas (shoutout to my favorite Texans: Mark and Sarah) you absolutely should be having this conversation over Cruz and his vacation. But, those who do not live in Texas need to shut up and worry about the affairs of their own state.
Nationalized Politics
The conversation surrounding Ted Cruz, like so many other things, is a symptom of a larger problem in our politics today. The reality is that the lens through which we view politics has become far too national in scope. There is a false conception that even though I live in Georgia, New York, or Idaho I must hold any and all politicians accountable for actions I disagree with or defend their actions if I believe them to be justified. The problem with this idea is that the vast majority of politicians are not meant to represent all of us but rather a select group or district of people and their interests.
This is an essential component of the system of government put forth by the framers of the Constitution. The system was designed to have particular interests, especially minority ones, represented and allow for these different interests to duke it out through the democratic process for power. In order for this system to work, members of Congress must actually represent the interests of their district and their district alone. If members of Congress begin to listen to the voice of people in other districts that are not their own, then the interests of their district cease to be represented and there is one less faction (to use the Madisonian phrase) to compete and keep the others in check.
This is not to say that representatives are meant to solely listen to and follow the will of their district/state. That would make the representative a completely useless middleman resembling a robot. Elected representatives must still use wisdom and discernment when voting on or proposing legislation and make judgement calls, but accountability will come at the ballot box if they stray too far and too often from the will of the district.
I say this because Ted Cruz is a senator from the state of Texas. Yes, he is a member of the federal government but he is not supposed to represent the interests of or be held accountable by the whole country. He is meant to represent the interests of the state of Texas and ultimately be held accountable by the citizens of that state. There is zero reason for me, in Georgia, to criticize or defend or give my thoughts at all on the actions of Cruz. He shouldn’t be concerned with what someone in Georgia thinks about his actions, and I shouldn’t be concerned with what a senator from Texas does. So, I should shut up and let the people of Texas decide for themselves. Only when a politician breaks a federal law should people from around the country get to weigh in.
Beyond Cruz
This is a problem that goes well beyond Ted Cruz and can be observed with the outrage expressed across the country for the handling of COVID-19 by California governor Gavin Newsom. Political commentators from across the country weighed in with their thoughts when Newsom was spotted at The French Laundry restaurant breaking his own COVID protocol. Tucker Carlson said in response to Newsom’s apology for the incident,
OK, Gavin. So you had no idea there were going to be a dozen people at your own party? You're the governor, but you never saw the guest list, you were totally shocked? That's ridiculous. It's too stupid to be an explanation and we are more stupid for pretending to believe it.
This may be an entirely justified response from someone that lived in California and wanted to hold Newsom accountable for his actions. The issue is that Carlson lives in Washington D.C. and the actions of Newsom do not impact him whatsoever. Newsom should not be concerned with what a resident of Washington D.C. believes about his actions and his apology. Conversly, Carlson should not care what the governor of California does or apologies he gives as long as he does not violate federal law.
I do want to add two brief caveats. It is one thing for national journalists to report on the actions of politicians like Cruz and Newsom so that constitutients can be informed of the actions of their representatives. However, it is an entirely different thing for commentators to give their opinions when it has no bearing on their life. Also, I am not talking about taking lessons/ideas from other states and implementing them or avoiding them in your own state. In fact, one of the beauties of federalism is that states can be a laboratory of democracy and try different policies out. I am talking about telling different states or districts that they should feel a certain way about their own representative.
Condescension & Arrogance
Not only is it contrary to our system, it is incredibly condescending and arrogant to tell a group of people how they should feel about their own representatives. Essentially, Carlson believes that Californians are incapable of judging Newsom for themselves and need someone living across the country to tell them how they should view him. We can’t trust the Californians to know what’s best for themselves so we must tell them what’s best.
Similarly, CNN has run segment after segment giving analysis about Ted Cruz traveling to Cancun. The Washington Post has written article and article about the same incident.
I haven’t looked at the location of everybody giving their opinion to determine whether they live in Texas or not but I have a sneaking suspicion that most do not. Again, this is people from outside Texas not believing that Texans are capable of judging Cruz for themselves. Texans don’t know what’s best for Texas, everyone else across the country does. This mindset is the essence of condescension and arrogance. Let people judge their own politicians and hold them accountable.
The reason why this bothers me so much is because I, in Georgia, had to suffer through the condescension and arrogance of the national media telling me that my governor was making a grave mistake by getting rid of local mask mandates in Georgia while still telling people to wear masks. Governor Brian Kemp got rid of local mask mandates because they were unenforceable not because he was anti-mask. He continually told Georgia to wear masks and Georgians, for the most part, did. Apparently, Georgians were too stupid to listen to government officials though and needed an unenforceable mask mandate to not die en masse. Meanwhile, Georgia is remarkably average in terms of COVID deaths per 100,000. It’s almost like Georgians knew what was best for Georgians. Even if that hadn’t been the case, Georgians would have held Kemp accountable for his decision and pressured him until he adjusted. We didn’t need the national media telling us how to feel or think about him.
This means that if you are in Texas then absolutely you can and should judge Cruz for his actions and determine whether to hold him accountable or not in the next election. If you aren’t in Texas (or California or Georgia or the state in discussion), please shut up about their politicians and worry about the affairs in your own state.
God bless,
Hunter Burnett